In The News

The IRS announced filing season will begin on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026.  Appointments are being accepted beginning Monday, January 19, 2026.

• New Deductions: Several temporary deductions for tax years 2025 through 2028 that can be claimed even if you take the standard deduction:
  • Tips: A deduction of up to $25,000 for qualified tip income for certain workers.
  • Overtime: A deduction of up to $12,500 for qualified overtime pay.
  • Seniors: An additional deduction of up to $6,000 for taxpayers aged 65 and older.
  • Auto Loan Interest: A deduction of up to $10,000 for interest paid on loans for new American-made vehicles.
• Increased Standard Deduction: The standard deduction has increased for 2025 to $15,750 (Single/Married Filing Separately), $23,625 (Head of Household), and $31,500 (Married Filing Jointly).
• Child Tax Credit: The maximum Child Tax Credit increased to $2,200 per qualifying child.
• State and Local Taxes (SALT): The cap on the SALT deduction has been temporarily raised to $40,000 for 2025, with phase-outs for higher-income earners.
• Direct Deposit for Refunds: The IRS is phasing out paper refund checks, so taxpayers are strongly encouraged to set up direct deposit to receive their refund faster and more securely. Refund status can be tracked using the "Where's My Refund?" tool on IRS.gov approximately 24 hours after e-filing. 

By law, the IRS cannot issue refunds before mid-February for tax returns that claim the Earned Income Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit.

• This applies to the entire refund, even the portion not associated with these credits.
• While the IRS will process your return when it is received, it cannot issue related refunds before mid-February.
• The IRS expects the earliest EITC/ACTC related refunds to be available in taxpayer bank accounts or on debit cards starting on Feb 15th, if they chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with the tax return.

The PATH act law prohibits the IRS from releasing tax refunds prior to February 15th for taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) tax credits.  The law may create tax refund delays up to six weeks or more. Therefore, any returns claiming the EITC or ACTC credit(s) that is prepared in the early part of the filing season will not be released for up to 4 weeks instead of the standard 21 days or less timeframe.The delay is to help prevent fraud due to identity theft and refund fraud. For more information, visit www.irs.gov. 

Aggressive & threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents remain to be the top of the phone scams list. It has been a persistent and pervasive problem for many taxpayers for many months. Scammers are able to alter caller ID numbers to make it look like the IRS is calling. They use fake names and bogus IRS badge numbers. They often leave “urgent” callback requests. They prey on the most vulnerable people, such as the elderly, newly arrived immigrants and those whose first language is not English. Scammers have been known to impersonate agents from IRS Criminal Investigation as well.

The IRS began a new private collection program of certain overdue federal tax debts selecting four contractors to implement it.  The IRS will always notify a taxpayer before transferring their account to a private collection agency (PCA). First, the IRS will send a letter to the taxpayer and their tax representative informing them that their account is being assigned to a PCA and giving the name and contact information for the PCA.